Photos of recipes from the new book Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Photos of recipes from the cookbook Tender Grassfed Meat
Corn Shortage? Let Them Eat Grass
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Grass—the ideal food for cattle
A meat shortage is coming. I hear this a lot from butchers and ranchers. The price of meat is already rising. The demand for meat is much greater than the supply, and the supply will not increase because of the rising price of corn. You would think that corn is necessary to raise livestock.
Corn is not a vital part of the diet of cattle, bison, or sheep. In fact, corn is an unnatural food for all of these species, which were designed to thrive on grass. My solution to the corn shortage is simple—let them eat grass.
The Price of Corn
The price of corn has been rising steadily in recent years. This has resulted in record corn crops, but the increased supply has not lowered prices. Why?
The answer is ethanol. The United States government supports the production of ethanol as an alternative fuel. Many other countries also favor the use of ethanol. While ethanol could theoretically be made from any plant matter, the U.S. has decided to support ethanol made from corn. Many farmers and large agricultural operations now grow corn solely for the purpose of making ethanol. These farmers invariably use massive amounts of artificial fertilizer, which requires substantial amounts of oil to produce and transport. The profitability of making ethanol has led to huge profits. It has also caused the cost of corn for animal feed to skyrocket. The use of corn for ethanol is blamed for a substantial increase in food prices all over the world.
The increase in the price of corn has made it much more expensive to raise animals in feedlots.
The Feedlot System Depends on Cheap Corn
Corn is an important component of the feed given to animals in feedlots, along with soy. The whole feedlot process is dependent on corn. The feedlot system was developed to make it much cheaper to raise and fatten meat animals. Cheap corn raised on artificial fertilizer was the basis of the whole system.
The feedlot system came about as a result of World War II. The war caused a huge demand for explosives, which created a number of large companies to fill the demand. These large and wealthy companies faced ruin when the war ended, because the demand for their product was greatly reduced. A plan was devised to use explosive products as artificial fertilizer. Farmers were sold on the idea that artificial fertilizer would enable them to grow huge amounts of corn. Of course, a market had to be found for all that corn. The feedlot system was the answer, as it was found that cattle could be fattened much faster if they were confined to a pen and fed huge amounts of corn. The U.S. government supported the new system with subsidies, and nearly all meat production in the U.S. was quickly switched to the feedlot system. Meat became cheaper and more abundant, and profits became higher.
But there was a hidden price—grass eating animals like cattle and sheep were not designed to be stuffed in a stall for six months, eating corn. They were designed to graze on grass and meadow plants. Large amounts of antibiotics were used to keep them somewhat healthy. The corn growers used massive amounts of pesticides and weed killers. These poisons, along with the artificial fertilizers, killed much of the life in the soil, depleting its mineral value.
Corn feeding in feedlots, later supplemented with soy and other unnatural feeds, greatly reduces the nutritional value of the meat. Eatwild.com has an excellent description of this process: Health Benefits of Grass-Fed Products. The taste and texture of the meat were also affected, as feedlot meat lacked flavor, was watery, and had a mushy texture.
The industry dealt with this problem by an intense marketing campaign designed to convince the public that corn feeding resulted in better meat. This campaign succeeded, and it became almost impossible to find beef that was not finished in a feedlot. Cooking techniques were invented to deal with the watery, flavorless meat. The very knowledge of how to cook grassfed meat was lost to most Americans, and most ranchers lost the knowledge of how to raise tender grassfed meat.
The traditional ways of raising grassfed meat used by humanity, developed and perfected over thousands of years, were almost completely abandoned in the rush for profit.
Now the very heart of the feedlot system—cheap feed—is being threatened by the high price of corn.
In the long run, this may be a blessing in disguise, as grassfed meat is a far superior food, and proper grassfed ranching restores the land, rather than depleting it.
The Grassfed Solution
Grassfed beef, grassfed bison, and grassfed lamb have the proper balance of nutrients that our bodies expect. Grassfed meat shrinks much less in cooking, has much more flavor, satisfies the appetite, and can be very tender if properly cooked.
Raising and finishing grassfed meat requires no corn. It requires grasslands and skill. Many ranchers have rediscovered how to raise terrific grassfed meat. There are huge amounts of unused grasslands in this country that can be used for grazing. In fact, proper rotational grazing actually restores and enriches the land. Innovative ranchers in this country have been successful in increasing the richness of their soil. See Grassfed Farmer Renews the Land.
Cooking grassfed meat also requires knowledge and skill. That is why I wrote Tender Grassfed Meat. Cooking tender and delicious grassfed meat is actually simple, and it tastes so much better than the feedlot variety.
I call on all ranchers to learn how to raise grassfed meat, drop the feedlots, and free themselves from their dependence on corn.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday and Monday Mania blog carnivals.
Finding Grassfed Fat, and How to Add Good Fat to Lean Meat
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Lean grassfed steak coated with pastured butter before cooking.
All too often, when shopping for grassfed meat, I find myself asking, “Where’s the fat?â€
The ugly truth is that far too much grassfed meat has all the visible fat trimmed off, and has very little fat in the meat.
The most nutrient-dense component of grassfed meat is the fat. The fat of grassfed animals is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and many other nutrients.
The fat also gives great flavor and enhances tenderness. The Weston A. Price Foundation advises always eating meat with fat. Traditional peoples, from the peoples of old Europe, to the Native Americans, to the Chinese, always ate meat with plenty of fat.
Yet many producers and sellers of grassfed meat trim off all the visible fat from their meat, and some deliberately raise their beef to be lean. For me, the most frustrating part of buying grassfed meat is getting meat with enough fat.
The key is to buy meat that comes with enough fat, both visible and internal. This involves careful shopping and lobbying producers. But sometimes, no matter what I do, the meat is just too lean. I have learned to compensate for this, just like our ancestors did.
If the fat is not in the meat, then you can bring the fat to the meat.
Tips for Buying Fattier Grassfed Meat
There are several indicators you can look at to find fattier grassfed meat. Here are some of them:
The Breed of Cattle
Genetics have a lot to do with the fat content in beef. Breeds that have been raised for meat, such as shorthorns and Angus, are much more likely to have more fat. Breeds that are noted for leanness, such as Galloway or Charolais, are much more likely to be very lean.
The Time of Year the Beef Is Processed
Traditionally, cattle were processed for meat in the late spring or early summer, after they had been eating the rich green grass of spring for as long as possible. This was the best natural way to put fat in the cattle, and meat processed at this time has more fat, more flavor, and more tenderness.
There are a number of ranchers and producers who only process their beef at that time of year, and freeze it. If you have enough freezer space, that is a particularly good time to buy a large quantity of meat.
I have also found bison and lamb processed after feeding on green grass for a while to be fattier, more tender, and more tasty.
The Philosophy of the Producer
The attitude and belief of the rancher actually raising the meat animal has a huge impact, as there is much they can do to make the meat fattier or leaner. If the producer brags about how lean and fat free their meat is, the meat is going to be very lean.
If the producer talks about the benefits of grassfed fat and why it is good to leave some fat on the meat, then your chances of getting fattier grassfed meat are a lot better.
If the producer praises the virtues of grassfed fat, and also praises the leanness of their meat, you may have a choice.
Ask!
Many producers and butchers carry both lean and fattier grassfed meat. I have found that just asking for the fattiest grassfed cuts they have makes a huge difference. Asking for fattier meat also tells a wise producer that the demand is out there, and may well increase the supply of fattier grassfed meat.
How to Add Good Fat to Lean Meat
Often, no matter what I do, the meat that is delivered is just too lean, or the meat available is just too lean. Fortunately, our ancestors often faced the same problem, and developed some solutions. Here are some of the solutions I use:
The same lean grassfed steak (as shown above) after cooking with a coating of butter.
1.     Butter. Pastured butter is the best friend of lean meat. You can coat the meat with softened butter before cooking. You can sauté the meat in butter. You can baste the meat with butter. You can put butter directly on the hot meat when it is served at the table. All of these methods will improve the meat and give you the fat that should be eaten with it.
2.     Beef tallow, lamb tallow, and bison tallow. Tallow can be placed directly on roasting meat, so it can baste the meat as it cooks. You can also sauté meat in melted beef tallow. You can melt some tallow and use it to baste the meat as it cooks. You can melt some tallow in a roasting pan and roll the meat in the melted tallow before cooking.
3.      Bacon. You can place fat slices of bacon directly on a roast, or render the fat from bacon and use it for sautéing.
4.     Natural, unhydrogenated lard. You can rub softened lard all over the meat prior to cooking. You can sauté the meat in melted lard. You can place lard directly on top of a roast, and baste during the roasting.
Tender Grassfed Meat contains a lot of information on how to add fat to meat, and how to cook meat with the right amount of fat.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, Fight Back Friday, Monday Mania, and Fat Tuesday blog carnivals.
Why Is Fattier Grassfed Meat Best?
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Grassfed sirloin roast, with a delicious, nutritious fat cap.
Our culture has a phobia about animal fat. The horrid nutritional guidelines just issued by the U.S. government tell us to eat meat only occasionally, and eat only lean meat. This is truly a shame, because animal fat from pastured animals contains many vital nutrients that are easily absorbed and hard to get elsewhere. Animal fat from grassfed animals also gives great taste, tenderness, and satisfaction (unlike the lumpy, greasy fat so prevalent in factory meat).
All grassfed meat is leaner than factory meat. Many producers advertise how lean their grassfed meat is. Some grassfed meat is much leaner, and some contains more fat. So which is better? For our ancestors, the choice was simple. Fat meat was desirable and cherished—lean meat was eaten to avoid starvation or thrown to the dogs.
For me, the answer is also simple. Most of the nutrients in grassfed beef are in the fat. Fattier cuts of grassfed meat have more flavor and come out more tender. The fattier the better, when it comes to grassfed meat.
Grassfed Fat vs. Factory Fat
There is a great difference in the content and composition of the fat of grassfed animals and the fat of factory animals finished in the feedlot.
The fat of grassfed animals has a much higher ratio of omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids, has much more CLA, and is much richer in other nutrients. The fat of feedlot-finished factory animals has a much higher omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio, much less CLA, and contains substances from the feed that get stored in the fat.
The fat in grassfed meat appears both as a covering over the cut of meat, and in small white flecks that can be seen in the meat itself. These small flecks are called marbling. The fat of feedlot-finished factory meat also appears as a covering, but it can often be seen in the meat itself as thick, blocky veins of fat, or lumps of fat. No grass finished meat has this appearance.
I personally find the fat in grassfed meat to be delicious and satisfying. It smells so good when the meat cooks that it makes me very hungry. I find the fat in feedlot-finished factory meat to be greasy, unpleasant, and downright disgusting. Factory meat does not satisfy me, and leaves me hungry and bloated. Grassfed meat always leaves me feeling satisfied and good—which is one of the main reasons why I only eat grassfed and grass finished  meat.
What about the Studies?
The media often publicizes studies that claim that eating meat, especially fat meat, is unhealthy.
While I never blindly believe any study, knowing how flawed and biased they can be (though some are completely valid, you just have to study the details), I have noticed two important points that make them inapplicable to grassfed meat and fat:
- All of these studies include the eating of highly processed factory meat, meat that is full of preservatives and chemicals, such as luncheon meat. It is impossible to know if the negative results claimed by the studies come from the meat or the chemicals.
- None of these studies are limited to the eating of pastured meat processed without the use of chemicals, but are based almost totally on feedlot-finished factory meat that has been raised with artificial hormones, chemicals, antibiotics, species-inappropriate feed, and other factors that were never used by our ancestors. It is impossible to know if the negative results claimed by the studies come from the meat or the hormones, chemicals, antibiotics, species-inappropriate feed, or other factors, or any combination of them.
The main studies we have on the nutritional effects of traditional meats, fats, and diets are the customs of our ancestors, and the vital research of Dr. Weston A. Price. These traditions and the research of Dr. Price support the health benefits of eating traditional unprocessed animal fats.
Why Fattier Grassfed Meat Is Better than Leaner Grassfed Meat
Once again, the traditions of our ancestors are the key to understanding. Every traditional meat eating culture preferred fat meat to lean meat. Traditional recipes for meat always make sure that it is cooked and eaten with plenty of fat, with roasts being inevitably covered by a glorious crown of their own magnificent fat. The most prized, luxurious cuts of meat were always the fattest.
Traditional Inuit were known to reserve the organ meats, fatty meats, and fat for themselves, while throwing the really lean meat to their dogs.
The most valued traditional foods included the fats of pastured animals, with lard, beef tallow, goose fat, duck fat, and chicken fat being heavily used for cooking in traditional Europe. The Native Americans used bear fat, bison fat, and the fat from other game. Lamb fat was prized in the Middle East, where breeds of lamb were raised that had huge tails composed almost completely of fat, which was used in all kinds of cooking. Lard was the most important fat in China, used for cooking almost everything.
I am convinced that cooking traditions reflect the collective experience of the people who have them, representing thousands of years of trial and error, passed down from parent to child, from teacher to student. The wisdom of these traditions was proved by Dr. Weston A. Price, who discovered that traditional peoples eating their traditional diets were completely free of the chronic diseases that afflicted modern peoples, remaining healthy and vigorous into extreme old age. Every one of the peoples studied by Dr. Price only ate meat with plenty of fat.
An example of this wisdom is pemmican, a staple preserved food of the Native Americans who lived on the Great Plains of the United States. Pemmican consisted of dried bison meat, dried cherries, and a great deal of bison fat. The Native Americans knew that the fat was absolutely necessary for the pemmican to sustain life.
Most of the nutrients in grassfed meat are in the fat, not the meat itself. Very lean grassfed beef, that has no visible marbling, will have fewer nutrients than grassfed meat that is nicely marbled. A roast that has all the fat cover trimmed off will have fewer nutrients than a roast cooked with a cover of its own natural fat.
I have found that the fattier the grassfed meat, the more tender and tasty and satisfying it is. You can make lean grassfed meat tender and delicious, with the proper technique and marinades. But the grassfed meat that has the little flecks of fat in the meat will be more tender, and more tasty, and more satisfying. The grassfed roast cooked with a cap of its own magnificent fat will always come out much better that the totally trimmed roast. Our ancestors knew this, and it is a delicious and healthy tradition to follow!
Related Posts
The Joy of Fat, Why We Lost It, and How to Get It Back
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, Fight Back Friday and Monday Mania blog carnivals.
Grassfed Brisket Pot Roast with Traditional Flavors
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Ingredients for a traditional grass fed brisket pot roast.
Many people have asked me for a recipe for grassfed brisket pot roast. While Tender Grassfed Meat has a number of pot roast recipes, it does not have a recipe for brisket. I received so many requests that I decided to create one.
Brisket is one of the most beefy, flavorful cuts. It can also be one of the toughest. Grassfed brisket has a reputation for being particularly tough. But a grassfed brisket, treated with the magic of traditional pot roasting, can be so tender, with a rich texture that is a pleasure to chew, and a deep beefy flavor that almost no other cut of meat can match.
Pot roasts from brisket are a tradition in French, Italian, Belgian, German, Czech, Austrian, Jewish, Russian, Polish, and American cuisines—and in many others. Just about all of these traditions use onions to flavor the meat, and most of them also use carrots. Many other ingredients are used, and these can vary greatly.
Grassfed briskets usually have most or all the fat trimmed off. An untrimmed brisket will have a great deal of fat, actually too much for a pot roast, and the fat should be trimmed to no more than one quarter inch in thickness. Brisket has so much deep beefy flavor that this recipe will be great even if the brisket is completely trimmed of fat (but a light covering of fat is best).
The amount of time it takes to cook a grassfed brisket to be wonderfully tender can vary, but it usually takes a long time. The best way to tell if it is done is to stick a fork in it. If the fork goes in easily, with little resistance, it is ready. If not, it needs more cooking. Just about every cookbook will tell you never to pierce cooking meat, or you will “lose valuable juices.†This “rule†does not apply to grassfed meat. I stick forks and instant read thermometers into grassfed meat all the time, and the meat still comes out tender and delicious.
A cast iron casserole, or an enameled cast iron casserole, is the traditional pot for cooking this dish, and works beautifully. But any sturdy casserole that can be used for browning on the stove (with an ovenproof cover) will do, if you do not have the traditional casserole.
This recipe combines a number of traditional flavors for brisket pot roast. The use of powdered onion and garlic along with fresh onion and garlic creates a rare depth of flavor. Beef suet gives a wonderful flavor to the meat, but so does butter. Your choice. Either way, the gravy will be wonderful.
This is a great recipe for a cold day, which is why brisket pot roasts were popular winter fare all over Europe.
Traditional Grassfed Pot Roast
1 grassfed brisket pot roast, about 3 pounds
1 teaspoon freshly ground organic black pepper
1 teaspoon organic onion powder
1 teaspoon organic granulated garlic powder
1 teaspoon coarse unrefined sea salt (such as Celtic Sea Salt®), crushed,
4 tablespoons melted beef suet, (or 4 tablespoons pastured butter)
2 medium organic onions, peeled and sliced
1 large organic carrot, peeled and cut into small circles
1 cup homemade broth, preferably beef
4 sprigs organic flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
2 cloves organic garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons arrowroot, mixed with one tablespoon of water
- Take the meat out of the refrigerator at least 1 hour before cooking, so it will be at room temperature.
- Combine the pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt, and mix well. Rub this mixture all over both sides of the meat. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of the suet (or butter) over medium heat, in the bottom of the casserole. When the fat is hot and slightly smoking, add the roast to the pan. Brown for about 5 minutes, then turn the meat over and brown the other side, also for 5 minutes.
- Remove the meat from the pan. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of suet (or butter). Add the onion and carrot and cook for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time. Remove the vegetables from the pan.
- Return the meat to the pan. Pour the vegetables over the meat, and use a spoon to push them so they surround the meat. Add the broth, parsley, and garlic, and bring the mixture to a slow simmer.
- Cover the pot and place in the oven. Cook until a fork goes easily into the meat, which could be anywhere from 2½ to 3½ hours.
- Remove the meat to a plate. Bring the gravy to a simmer over the stove. Stir the arrowroot and water together until they combine, then add the arrowroot mixture to the simmering gravy. Simmer briskly until the gravy thickens, stirring well. Once the gravy thickens, place it in a pitcher and serve the tender meat.
Serve and taste why brisket pot roasts have been cherished for so many years.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, Fight Back Friday and Monday Mania blog carnivals.
My Podcast Interview at Our Natural Life
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Jon and Cathy Payne of the Our Natural Life blog. Jon and Cathy are amazing people. After retiring from successful careers, they became farmers. They describe their fascinating new life as homesteaders in their fine blog. I really enjoyed the interview.
In this interview we talked about how I used real food to resolve my health problems; the crucial role grassfed meat played in restoring my health; how I learned to cook grassfed meat by researching traditional cooking methods; health and cooking characteristics of grassfed meat; and a little preview of my upcoming book on barbecuing grassfed meat.
The interview was a lot of fun to do, and I think you’ll enjoy it. Jon and Cathy also have a giveaway contest for a copy of Tender Grassfed Meat. Here is the link to the podcast and the giveaway:
Cooking Tender Grassfed Meat (Podcast ONL072) and a GIVEAWAY!
Delicious, Festive, and Healthy—Christmas Liverloaf
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Festive Christmas grassfed liverloaf with red piquillo peppers and green organic cilantro.
We think of gifts around the time of Christmas. One of the best gifts that can be given is the gift of good nutrition, and this dish is loaded with nutrients from grassfed liver, grassfed heart, and grassfed kidney. In honor of the traditional Christmas colors, it is flecked with red and green. These colors come from the nutrient-dense combination of cilantro, tomatoes, and piquillo peppers. Not only do they make a colorful meatloaf, they add valuable nutritional combinations of their own. And they add a wonderful flavor to the meatloaf.
Innards such as liver, heart, and kidney are known to be full of all kinds of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and others, in a form that is easily digested and used. Traditional peoples ate them to improve the health of their livers, hearts, and kidneys. Yet modern people have been reluctant to eat these nutrient-rich foods because of their taste and texture. This meatloaf makes all of these meats absolutely delicious, as well as nutritious.
This recipe is based on U.S. Wellness Meats liverwurst, which is the easiest way I have found to get these wonderful organ meats into my family’s diet. U.S. Wellness Meats liverwurst is 25% grassfed beef liver, 25% grassfed beef heart, 25% grassfed beef kidney, and 25% grassfed beef. It is the only product I know which has all these vital organ meats in such an easy-to-use form. I use this great sausage as a base for many meatloafs, meatballs, and hamburgers, and it always comes out delicious.
The combination of cilantro and tomatoes is very traditional in Latin America, and is believed to have many benefits, including helping the body to remove toxic metals such as mercury and aluminum from the brain and other organs.
Piquillo peppers have incredible flavor, but are not hot. These small peppers are peeled, smoked over wood fires, preserved in olive oil, and placed in jars. They are available in many markets, and can be ordered over the Internet. You can substitute an organic red bell pepper, and it will still be delicious.
This meatloaf shows that innards can be easy to make, and delicious, as well as decorative!
Ingredients:
1 pound U.S. Wellness Meats liverwurst sausage
½ cup fresh organic cilantro, very finely chopped
½ cup organic tomato puree
3 organic piquillo peppers, (or 1 organic red bell pepper), very finely chopped
2 pastured eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
½ cup plain organic bread crumbs of your choice, preferably from sourdough or sprouted bread
- In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients until they are well combined. Place the mixture in a loaf pan, preferably glass. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the pan in the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes.
Admire the Christmas colors, then serve and eat them!
A New Pot Roast Recipe for the Holidays
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Traditional Belgian ingredients make this pot roast special.
I have had the honor and pleasure to do a guest post for my friend Raine Saunders of Agriculture Society, which is one of the very best real food blogs around. There are many excellent articles on every aspect of real food and real health. Raine is a superb writer, and the blog posts are clear and comprehensive. I highly recommend this blog.
I contributed a new and unusual pot roast recipe, based on traditional Belgian ingredients. Pot roast is a wonderful food for the winter, and this one is absolutely delicious. The use of raspberry lambic beer is unique, but trust me, the combination of ingredients in this recipe is both exotic and comforting, and the taste is outstanding. There is a subtle raspberry flavor that is set off perfectly with the traditional Dijon mustard to create one of the tastiest gravies ever.
The name of the recipe is Traditional Pot Roast with Belgian flavors and you can find it here:
Easy, Exotic Grassfed Pot Roast for the Holidays
How to Find Steak in Pot Roast, and Save!
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Seven-bone pot roast cut from the chuck.
One of the biggest problems people have with grassfed meat is the cost. All meat is expensive, and grassfed meat is usually more expensive than factory meat. But knowing your meat can result in paying pot roast prices for tender steaks. I do it regularly.
The ordinary chuck pot roast, also known as a seven-bone pot roast, contains several different cuts of meat. Two of them make wonderfully tender and delicious steaks that you can easily cut from the pot roast.
So, get ready to find steaks in that pot roast.
How to Find the Steaks in the Pot Roast
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and seeing is believing. The top photo is of the typical seven bone pot roast, cut from the chuck. Can you see the tender rib steak and flat iron steak in the picture?
Unless you are a butcher, probably not. But they are there.
Rib steak, chuck pot roast, and flat iron steak.
The second photo shows the same pot roast, cut into three pieces.
The top piece, which has a bone on top, is a bone in rib steak. That is right—the meat is the same in flavor and tenderness as a rib steak that would sell for at least three times the price of the pot roast. The bone gives incredible flavor to the meat.
The piece of meat in the middle is the chuck pot roast, a tough cut of beef that is suitable for pot roasts or stews, not steaks.
The piece of meat at the bottom, below the long bone, is the flat iron steak, a very tender and flavorful piece of meat that makes a very popular and delicious steak. Flat iron steak sells for at least twice the price of the pot roast, often more.
It takes me about two minutes, or less, to separate the steaks from the pot roast.
How I Save Money on Steaks
First, I look at the pot roast carefully before buying. Some seven-bone pot roasts have a much larger rib steak and flat iron portion than others. It all depends on the exact area of the chuck that the roast is cut from. I select the pot roasts that have the biggest rib and flat iron portions. Fortunately, the larger rib portions and flat iron portions occur together. In other words, the bigger the rib, the bigger the flat iron.
I will buy several of these pot roasts, and separate them into three parts, as shown in the second photograph. I group the same cuts together, and now have several meals of rib steak, flat iron steak, and pot roast. All for the price of pot roast. I wrap each meal size portion in natural wax paper coated with extra virgin olive oil, place it in a gallon-sized freezer storage bag, and freeze what I am not going to make in the immediate future.
There is another saving you get by selecting grassfed meat. Grassfed meat has far less water in it that factory meat, and you end up with more meat and less water after cooking, as there is much less shrinkage.
Tender Grassfed Meat has some great recipes for rib steaks and flat iron steak, as well as pot roasts. These steaks are absolutely delicious, and you can have them for the price of pot roast!
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
Traditional Barbecue Methods Avoid Risk Factors
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Barbecuing tender grassfed meat with indirect heat.
Is barbecue safe? There are a number of studies that conclude that eating barbecued meat creates carcinogenic substances. However, traditional peoples barbecued constantly and were free of cancer.
The studies all focused on meat grilled with modern methods, using very high direct heat. The traditional methods are very different. No study bothered to contrast the difference between modern grilling methods and traditional methods. In fairness, the researchers were almost certainly unaware of the dramatic difference in cooking methods.
The researchers’ solution is to stop eating barbecue. My solution is to change your cooking method to avoid the risk factors by barbecuing the way our ancestors did.
What the Researchers Found
The studies showed that grilling meat over direct high heat can cause the formation of substances known as HCAs, which are considered carcinogenic when given in large amounts to laboratory animals. HCAs are formed when meat is cooked with very high direct heat, especially when flames hit the meat, and a hard crust is formed by the searing heat.
The studies also found that fat dripping from the meat directly on to the heat source would be changed by the heat, and driven back into the meat as a carcinogenic substance.
What is crucial to understand is that both of these substances are created by grilling the meat directly over a very hot heat source, whether gas or charcoal briquets.
As far as I could tell, the barbecued meat used in the studies was cooked with modern fuels like charcoal briquets and propane gas.
Some researchers found that marinating meat reduced the amount of HCAs by as much as 100%.
How Traditional Barbecue Methods Avoid the Risk Factors
Traditional peoples did not barbecue over direct high heat. In fact, they did not barbecue directly over any heat source, unless the meat was so high over a low fire that there was no chance of flames hitting the meat, and the meat only received low heat.
The prerequisite for forming the carcinogenic substances found by the studies—direct high heat—was never used.
Meat was always cooked in front of, never over, the fire. The fire was always allowed to burn down to smoldering coals—nobody cooked directly over leaping flames. This method did not create hard charred crusts or grill marks, but a delicious, tender, browned coating.
Cooking grassfed meats over direct high heat will make them tough and inedible. Grassfed meats can be very tender when grilled by moderate to low indirect heat, which is how our ancestors grilled them.
Traditional peoples almost always marinated their meat before barbecuing it.
Traditional Peoples Used Different Fuels
Almost all barbecue cooked in the United States today is made over a very hot fire fueled by propane gas or charcoal briquets. Traditional peoples never used these fuels.
Charcoal briquets were invented by Henry Ford as a way to make money from the scrap wood left over from making automobiles. These briquets included many other ingredients besides wood scraps, including anthracite coal, petrochemicals, and various binding materials and chemicals. They were never used by humans before the 20th century, as they were invented in the 20th century.
The use of propane gas as a barbecue fuel also began in the 20th century.
Traditional peoples used various natural substances as fuel. The most common was wood, which was always burned down to coals before the cooking began, or lump hardwood charcoal, which was made by partially burning wood in a way that caused it to form charcoal. The art of charcoal burning goes back thousands of years.
Traditional Barbecue Is Better for Grassfed Meat
Factory meat contains much more water than grassfed meat, which means that it can withstand direct high heat. The most common way to ruin grassfed meat is to cook it over direct high heat. Grassfed meat can be wonderfully tender when cooked with traditional methods.
We can avoid the risk factors identified by the studies by never using direct high heat when barbecuing. We can barbecue like our ancestors did, using lump hardwood charcoal or wood coals for fuel. We can marinate our meat like they did. Not only is this way of cooking safer, it is ideally suited to cooking tender grassfed meat.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade.
This post is part of Monday Mania Blog Carnival at the Healthy Home Economist.
The Benefits of Organ Meats
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Liverloaf made with US Wellness Meats Grassfed Braunschweiger.
The standard American diet, known as “SAD†(and it is really sad, especially for those who eat it) does not contain any organ meats. In fact, organ meats are demonized for having fat and cholesterol. This is truly a shame, because organ meats from grassfed animals are one of the most nutrient-dense foods available, being packed with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other nutrients.
Our ancestors knew the value of organ meats. They gave great value to liver, heart, and kidney, and used these foods to support the health of their own organs. We can do the same.
Organ Meats Were Crucial in Traditional Diets
When I did the research for Tender Grassfed Meat: Traditional Ways to Cook Healthy Meat, I read a number of old cookbooks. I was astonished to find literally hundreds of recipes for all kinds of organ meats. Liver was considered a staple of the diet, and was sautéed, made into dumplings and pastries, eaten raw, puréed, roasted, and minced. When hunters killed an animal, it was a tradition to eat the warm liver on the spot, raw, with everyone in the hunting party having a share. This was not only a tradition among European hunters, but was also done by the Native Americans, and other people all over the world. Even predators such as lions, bears, and tigers will eat the liver first. There are hundreds of traditional European sausages made from liver, liverwurst being just one of them. Pâtés are one of the tastiest results of this tradition.
There were a myriad of recipes containing kidneys, heart, brains, sweetbreads (thymus gland), intestines, even lungs, spleens, and other organs. These organs were also made into sausages, pies, soups, fritters, and preparations unique to each organ. It was also traditional to stuff the stomach of an animal with chopped organ meat and other foods, the famous Scottish Haggis being an example of this. Most of these recipes were a great deal of work, because most organ meats require a great deal of trimming. There are often membranes, veins, arteries, and other inedible parts that must be removed, and the edible portions often required soaking, often multiple soakings, pounding, and intense cleaning. These recipes would often go into great detail as to how to prepare the organ meats for cooking.
The healthy peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price all ate organ meats, and valued them highly. Their traditional preparations of these meats also involved a great deal of work in cleaning and preparing the organs.
It should be noted that many of these dishes did not taste particularly good, and were resisted by children. People ate them anyway, and forced their children to eat them.
Why did all of these traditional peoples go to all that work and trouble? Because they knew there was something in these organ meats that was good for them, and because this knowledge had been handed down from generation to generation.
The Traditional Use of Organ Meats to Support Organ Functioning
Many traditional peoples, including the Native Americans, and even the pre-drug medical profession, believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the organs of the eater. A traditional way to treat a person with a weak heart was to have the person eat the heart of a healthy animal. There were a number of country doctors who reported success with using this method. Eating the brains of a healthy animal was also believed to support clear thinking. People with bladder and kidney problems would be fed kidney meat from healthy animals. Native Americans with a vision problem or eye injury would be given the eyes of animals to eat. There are many reports confirming the success of such practices. In modern times, a number of people who need thyroid hormones have eaten the thyroids of animals, as an effective alternative to thyroid medication. However, I do not recommend that anybody do this on their own, without the supervision of a qualified medical professional. Nevertheless, many people have reported success with this practice.
Liver was often given to sick people, as the huge amounts of quality nutrients in this organ helped rebuild their bodies. Great emphasis was placed on only eating the organs from healthy animals.
However, most of the organ meats were eaten as part of the regular diet, by healthy people whose culture knew that eating these organs would support the natural functioning of their bodies. That is why they went through all the work necessary to prepare them.
Science Has Confirmed the Nutritional Benefits of Organ Meats
The development of the ability to identify and test for the presence of nutrients has confirmed what most people already knew—organ meats are a nutritional powerhouse, full of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and many other substances vital for nutrition. Liver in particular is crammed full of vital nutrients, which is why predatory animals eat it first, and why it has been so valued over the course of time.
Unfortunately, organ meats have been demonized because they contain fat and cholesterol, and most people are afraid to eat them. The cholesterol myth is just that, a myth, and the fat of healthy animals is beneficial for human health, as shown in these articles: Know Your Fats Introduction and Cholesterol: Friend or Foe?
The organ meats eaten by our ancestors and traditional peoples have great nutritional value.
An Easy Way to Eat Organ Meats
We can get the benefits of organ meats, even today. I do not recommend eating the organs of factory animals. The organ meat of factory animals is not the same meat that has been eaten for thousands of years, but is different, as the animals have usually been given hormones and antibiotics, and have not been fed their natural feed. My personal choice is to eat the organs of grassfed and grass finished animals only. In the case of omnivorous animals such as pigs and chickens, I choose to only eat the organs of pastured animals.
But I will confess that all the preparatory work that is necessary for enjoying most organ meats is more than I want to do. I will buy organ meats that come ready to cook, but my favorite way to eat organs is by eating organ sausages.
Great care must be taken in choosing sausage, because all kinds of undesirable ingredients are often added to them. I insist on knowing everything that is in a sausage before I eat it. Currently, I know of only one Internet source for grassfed organ sausage that has no undesirable ingredients. These sausages are of the highest quality, and I eat them at least once a week. These are the organ sausages made and sold by US Wellness Meats. They make a delicious liverwurst that contains liver, heart, and kidney. They make two kinds of braunschweiger that contain a lot of liver: one cooked, and the other one raw. They also sell a headcheese that contains tongue and heart. These sausages can be made into delicious recipes. Here is a link to a recipe I created for the raw braunschweiger: liverloaf. There are also recipes using these sausages on pages 179-182 of Tender Grassfed Meat.
Organ meats are some of the most vital and nutrient-dense foods available to us. Our ancestors knew this, and we can learn from them.
This post is part of Real Food Wednesday Blog Carnival at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
This post is part of Fight Back Friday Blog Carnival at Food Renegade.
This post is part of Monday Mania Blog Carnival at the Healthy Home Economist.
« Previous Page — Next Page »